Stitch Magazine Issue 155

Stitch Magazine Issue 155 has a brilliant article featuring the 2024/5 Embroiderers’ Guild Members’ Challenge winners.

In this year’s Challenge I was delighted to be awarded the Artistic Directors Award for Innovation for my piece ‘Flowers, Leaves and Berries’.

Flowers Leaves and Berries awarded ‘The Artists Director’s Award for Innovation’
Flowers Leaves and Berries awarded ‘The Artists Director’s Award for Innovation’
Stitch Magazine Issue 155
Flowers, Leaves and Berries

Stitch Magazine Issue 155

It’s a beautifully curated article.

Alongside each artwork you’ll find a paragraph or two written by the artist, describing how they created their designs based on the theme of ‘Colour Rhythms’.

Stitch Magazine Issue
Stitch Magazine Issue
Stitch Magazine Issue 155
Article in Stitch
Stitch Magazine Issue 155
Article in Stitch
Stitch Magazine Issue 155
Article in Stitch

Thank you to the Embroiderers’ Guild for organising the Challenge and to Stitch Magazine for the feature.

Stitch Magazine Issue 146

I’m please to announce that Darning Sampler is included in Stitch Magazine Issue 146.

Stitch Magazine Issue 146
Stitch Magazine Issue 146

The article showcases the winning entries in the Embroiderers’ Guild Members’ Challenge 2023.

Article in Stitch Magazine Issue 146
Article in Stitch Magazine Issue 146

Darning Sampler – My first thought on the Members’ Challenge ‘Layers’ theme was of threads crossing and layering over each other and planned to create an artwork that combined two of my favourite things, intricate stitch work and red thread.

The inspiration came from a little antique darning sampler in my collection. I wanted to make a sampler of my own and chose a vintage brushed cotton child’s garment to embellish with the stitches.

Using the vintage sampler as a starting point with a few variations of my own, I created a bank of stitches drawn out onto graph paper.

An early challenge was the brushed cotton surface which needed to be completely de-fuzzed to expose the cloth’s weave.

I sampled a few threads on the reverse of the garment to see which weight of thread worked best and settled on a Madeira Cotona in red and then cut out small pieces of paper about 2-inch square and pinned them over the garment to get an idea of the composition.

Size 28 x 28 cm approximately. Hand stitched Madeira thread, vintage child’s cotton garment. Mother of Pearl button added to the neckline in a red thread.

Catherine Hill – Stitch Magazine issue 146
Article in Stitch Magazine Issue 146
Article in Stitch Magazine Issue 146

Copies can be purchased via the Royal School of Needlework shop.

Artistic Director’s Award 2023

Darning Sampler - hand stitched red thread into a vintage white child's garment

I’m pleased to announce that ‘Darning Sampler‘ has received a First Award in ‘The Artistic Director’s Category’ in the Members’ Challenge 2023.

Artistic Director's Award

The Members’ Challenge ‘Layer, Layers, Layering’, will be on display on the Embroiderers’ Guild stand at the Knitting and Stitching Shows at Alexandra Palace and Harrogate in 2023.

Darning Sampler - hand stitched red thread into a vintage white child's garment
Darning Sampler

I’m honoured and thrilled to be receiving another award for my hand embroidery.